Papers Please Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Rulebook confiscation 1160

A rulebook entry about passport confiscation.

Passport confiscation is a process where the inspector seizes an entrant's passport by order of the Ministry of Admission. A special drawer for confiscated passports is installed in the booth on day 24 when the confiscation order is first issued.

On day 24, the Ministry of Information requests help from the M.O.A. regarding suspicious activities by some Arstotzkan citizens.[1] From that day on, the inspector is expected to confiscate all passports from Arstotzkans living in the Altan district and issue passport seizure slips to allow entry if the entrant is not violating any other rules.

On day 28, the Arstotzkan government takes stricter measures and expands the passport confiscation program. For the rest of the game, the inspector must confiscate all Arstotzkan passports from Arstotzkan entrants without exceptions.[2]

Gameplay[]

Confiscated Passport

A confiscated passport in the drawer.

Passports are confiscated by dragging them to the bottom of the screen near the handle of the drawer. The drawer will open automatically and an unstamped passport seizure slip will appear once the passport has been dropped into the drawer.

Although not explicitly stated, the inspector can confiscate any passport he encounters, not just those of Arstotzkans. However, a citation is issued for each unauthorized confiscation. The confiscation of passports plays a part in three storylines:

  • On day 27, EZIC wants the inspector to confiscate the passport of a Kolechian diplomat in order to slip their own agent through.
  • On day 30, a father wants to avenge the death of his daughter by using a passport confiscated from the man who killed her.
  • If the inspector wants to flee to Obristan with his family near the end of the game, he needs to confiscate Obri passports for his family members. This opportunity is presented by Jorji Costava on day 29. See endings 16 and 18 for details. Confiscating Obri passports before day 29 will not count toward ending 18.
  • Jorji Costava forces you to get a citation in order to continue on day 29, he will refuse to leave the booth until you take his passport, which leads to the only unavoidable citation in the game.
Confiscated passport envelope

The confiscation envelope is sealed once the original owner of the passport has left the booth. It can only be reopened during scripted encounters.

A confiscated passport can be removed from the drawer and returned to the entrant as long as the entrant is still in the booth and has not gotten all their other documents back.[3] If the inspector has already returned all other documents to the entrant except for the passport and the seizure slip, the entrant will walk out after getting either of those back. If the inspector gives the entrant a passport seizure slip and the passport is not in the confiscation drawer, it is automatically moved there.

It is possible to give a stamped passport and a stamped seizure slip to the same entrant (as long as those two are not the last two documents to be returned). If either of those have a red stamp, the entrant is denied and will walk back to the West Grestin side.

If the inspector has already confiscated an entrant's passport, but leaves it out when returning the documents back to the entrant, the passport will automatically be put back into the drawer and sealed, and the dialogue of the entrant asking for his or her passport back is skipped, which can be used to save the player time. This does not work when detaining, as the passport is swept off the desk with the other documents and a citation will be issued: the passport must be in the drawer before selecting the detention option.

When confiscating Obristan passports in order to flee from Arstotzka, it is easiest to skip checking for discrepancies and immediately deny the entrant, since you will earn a citation anyway for the unauthorized passport confiscation. Approving the entrant works as well, but necessitates the extra step of checking weight for potential suicide bombers.

References[]

  1. Official bulletin on day 24
  2. Official bulletin on day 28
  3. This was impossible in 1.0.33. but was fixed in 1.0.34.
Advertisement